Photography by Christopher S. Penn
Beginner phrases #2 / Intermediate Sonkeigo #1 - set phrases that use いらっしゃる (irassharu)
Time for another breakdown of some set Japanese phrases. I was going to do these individually but so many use this verb that I thought I’d lump them all together. This post is aimed at giving upper beginners a deeper understanding of the phrases they’re learning and give more intermediate learners a brief overview of some sonkeigo. My next post will be a breakdown of Japanese politeness levels.
I’ll be slowly decreasing the romaji used as the post goes on, but only if I’ve already shown the reading for that word a couple of times. If your reading comprehension sucks, this should give you a gentle poke in the right direction.
Sonkeigo or keigo is sometimes referred to as humble speech. This used to be more common, especially when Japan had things like noble houses and suchlike. It is a way of making your speech incredibly polite by verbally going out of your way to be polite. Keigo tends to be long and confusing, but some humble forms are found in everyday speech as set phrases.
The verb we’re looking at today is the polite form of 来る (kuru) ‘to come’. It conjugates to 来ます (kimasu) in teineigo (polite speech) and to いらっしゃる (irassharu) in sonkeigo. Though it’s written primarily with hiragana, it still comes from the root 来 meaning to come - including for things like 来週 (raishuu) ‘next week’. The on reading is ‘rai’ and so we can safely assume that our verb was probably historically written something like い来っしゃる but that has fallen out of use. Sometimes it is wrongly written by even native speakers with the kanji 居 meaning residence. This makes sense given how it is commonly used, but incorrect. It definitely is the humble form of 'to come’
いらっしゃい (Irasshai) - welcome
Fairly straightforward. Because its a godan verb you conjugate as if its polite and drop the -masu. This is part of the script when somebody enters your house. If a guest is socially inferior or they are a familiar guest, いらっしゃい is used to say welcome.
いらっしゃいませ(irasshaimase) - welcome
Again, conjugate to polite. I’m not actually 100% sure why it’s ませ(-mase) but it feels more polite and friendly. I can’t quite put my finger on why but I know it’s true. This is what is said if you are welcoming somebody unfamiliar or if you are socially inferior. It is very polite and is the standard upon arriving in a new Japanese house. You also hear it upon walking into a store in Japan. It’s somewhat common to hear the staff call いらっしゃいませ when a new customer arrives. This is showing great respect to the customer
よくいらっしゃいました (yoku irasshaimashita)- welcome
The absolutely most polite. よく (yoku) at the start is from 良 which means good. However, よくcan also be put before a verb in the past tense to mean it was done properly or skillfully, such as よくできました (yoku dekimashita) which means it was done well. We already know what いらっしゃい means, but here it is put into the past tense. This strikes me as very subservient and passive. All together it might literally translate as “you are extremely welcome” except that doesn’t carry all the connotations of just how much you are bowing and scraping here. You are verbally saying that you are very much inferior and it is an absolute honour to welcome them. I’ve never heard this used but if it is used, it’s serious business. This might be used if the prime minister of Japan asked to come for dinner and you were welcoming them at the door.
行ってきます(ittekimasu) - See you later!
I know this doesn’t contain いらっしゃる but stay with me a moment. The way you link verbs in Japanese is with the て (te) form. The two verbs linked here are 行く (iku) to go; and 来る (kuru) to come, so we have 行ってくる (ittekuru). Then you make it polite 行ってきます(ittekimasu). You’re literally saying “I’m going but I’ll come back”. You say this when you leave home or the office. Many Japanese people say this as they leave even if nobody is listening. It indicates “I am going now but don’t worry. I will safely return”. The person listening replies with the next phrase…
いってらっしゃい (itterasshai ) - take care!
Ahh, now we see a variant of いらっしゃる. We’re linking two verbs: 行く(iku) just like before; and いらっしゃる then it’s made polite. You should know these two by this point in the post! You might think this would make 行っていらっしゃい (itteirasshai) but this set phrase drops the い, presumably because it doesn’t flow off the tongue very well and you’re saying it to people you know so it doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. Again, this means to go and come back but throws in the humble form of ‘to come’. This might seem odd but it asks the person leaving to please be safe. Perhaps you might consider it “You’re going now and will return but please take care of yourself and be safe”
I hope this helped you in your studies, even if you’re not a beginner it should give you some deeper understanding and perhaps a nice entry point for keigo if you haven’t started that.
This lesson brought to you by my lovely student @han-pan mentioned a few phrases she wants posted in our last lesson together. One of them was いらっしゃいませ so I thought I’d lump them all together. For more information on my teaching, check >this link<!
皆さん頑張ってくださいにゃー (minna-san ganbatte kudasai nya)
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